~ Book Reviews and More

Monthly Archives: January 2017

There is an epic problem associated with reading new release books- when you finish the very last word, on the very last page, after reading in a paralyzed state for hours on end, unable even to refill your water glass, and you look around frantically wanting to discuss what the heck just happened and there is literally no one else who has read it; it has only been out 11 days. This is the situation I find myself in.

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich tells the story of lives impacted by a murder- a mother killing her child. Pieces of the story come together slowly in beautiful prose with the novel moving throughout time told from two different perspectives.

This is literary fiction through and through although masquerading, at times, as a mystery. Attempt to discover the reasons behind the horrendous act along with the characters, but be prepared to do the work; this book is more about the emotional journey of the characters.

Whatever brought that hatchet down was not a thought or an intention. No, the hatchet caught on the inertia of a feeling already gone.

We are only 14 days into 2017, but this will be on my top ten list for the year! Please read it and let me know what you think. I desperately need to talk to someone!

Schools are filled with individuals whose greatest desire is to help students grow. From the principal to teachers, custodians, nurses, secretaries, tech support- we all work together as a team towards the same goal and each member has a vital role to fulfill. We are all equally important! Many books are written for principals to hone their leadership skills, but very few are designed to help raise individual teachers as leaders- until now! The book, Every Teacher a Leader by Barbara B. Levin and Lynne Schrum strives to illuminate the influence teachers have on their colleagues and help them further develop their leadership skills.

Teachers are leaders when they: advocate for students, collaborate, help new teachers, share their learning, and connect with community members. Many teachers, myself included, thought these tasks were simply part of being a teacher and did not realize the degree that they demonstrate leadership.

After a brief introduction the book launches into a series of chapters designed to help teachers reflect on their goals, personality, and areas of growth before moving into sections that help teachers better fulfill possible tasks including: grant writing, leading professional development, and advocacy.

Being trusted to get the job done is the number one factor that defines job satisfaction.

This book didn’t offer a great deal of new information on how I could improve within my current role, but I appreciated the morning of self-reflection it brought on. I sat with a cup of coffee on an icy Saturday, reading and considering the reasons behind the unnatural degree of love I have for my current position. I am grateful every single day for my work family. It may have taken me six years to find my way, but I am home.

One of the things that I love about fiction, both reading it and what I hope to do writing it, is the way it forces you to enter deeply into the spirit of others. You break out of the shelter you’re in most of the time, you are forced to enter other ways of seeing, other ways of living, other ways of being, the particular realities that other people inhabit. One of the banes of this world is how easily we reduce others to Them. The minute you get one of Them up close, suddenly your ideas don’t hold up.

The quote above is from Tobias Wolff and embodies the reason behind why I read the two books that follow. Both books explore poverty in our world today and I read them to launch myself outside of the bubble I find myself in- to experience life from the perspective of someone else.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers byKatherine Boo is literary non-fiction that follows several families living in the slums of Mumbai, India. The slums are juxtaposed with the luxury hotels and airport on the other side of a wall and the book is difficult to read at times. Boo discusses suicides, rat infestations, and garbage heaps using vivid, graphic descriptions. Readers discover what really happens to the money donated by charities, learn what education looks like, and find out the jobs people will do to try to make money.

That said, the book is so much more than just gruesome descriptions of slum life; Boo focused on human perspectives on life in the slums and the efforts to escape. My favorite character was Manju, an aspiring teacher. Only 60% of teachers had a college degree and many secretly paid a great deal of money to a principal of a school in order to secure a job. Once a position was secured, they were absent as much as they worked and so many times going to school for children simply meant playing, eating lunch, and playing some more. Manju really loves teaching and she starts informally subbing for her mother’s class. Her mother views her as an overachiever and seems to think teachers only need to be in the classroom when their boss is observing. I enjoyed seeing Manju do the right thing for kids- even when no one was watching or requiring it of her.

It’s easy to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers and have your heart broken by the individuals living in poverty, but Matthew Desmond takes the issue of poverty, drops it on your doorstep, and demands to know what you are going to do about it in his ethnography, Evicted. Matthew follows eight families in Milwaukee as they navigate the unending cycle of evictions and homelessness. Landlords are also included in the mix; Matthew rented a trailer to be close to the people living in the trailer park and despite countless maintenance requests, never had hot water.

Matthew helped me better understand the transient nature of some individuals and why children often move without notice. I also saw the great strength of people who have to wake up every single day fighting for their basic needs and how hard it is for them to make progress towards their goals with compounded limitations and generational poverty intertwined into their every move.

We have a problem and we need to unite in order to fix it. How will you help our most vulnerable?

Much of my reading consists of new release books or books not yet published and so I begin each year with a classic- thus ensuring that I get at least one into my system. It’s a bit like eating a salad before you start your main meal.

This year, I selectedPeter Pan, J. M. Barrie written in 1911, and within the first few sentences I was hooked. Of course, is it possible to go wrong with a British children’s book? The language was so magical and wrapped me up in blanket of warmth (except for the bit describing Tinker Bell’s appearances! Seriously?). Despite all the adventures in Neverland, Wendy valued family most of all. Peter Pan also went through great lengths to seek out a “mother”; deep down it was something he cared about too. I’m with Peter, everyone needs a mother, no matter how old you are, and if not a biological mother, then at least a gray haired friend or two to help you along life’s journey.

My second book of 2017, The Excellent Lombards, Jane Hamilton, follows Mary Frances from her early elementary school years living on her family’s apple orchard through her high school years and is somewhat autobiographical. Mary Frances has anxiety about growing up and worries about the orchard. I felt such a strong connection to her, but it hit me the hardest when the attack on the world trade centers occurred in the plot. The narrator talked about watching CNN all day at school, carefully analyzing her teachers’ reactions to what happened, and worrying about war. Mary Frances’s experience was exactly my own. Overthinking everything, being dramatic, finding comfort in books were other similarities between myself and Mary Frances… traits I still have. I even have family ties to an apple orchard although, my generation was never on the farm- but that my friends, is another story for another day!

As we begin 2017, I hope to read to stretch my mind, hear other viewpoints, and walk in the shoes of others. I will read to be changed and to be comforted. Until next time, I will leave you with the words of David Kipen:

More desperately than ever, we need our libraries now, and all three of their traditional pillars: 1) education, 2) good reading and 3) the convivial refuge of a place apart. In other words, libraries may be the last coal we have left to blow on.

Welcome!

Hi, my name is Karen Evans and I write about reading! I started The Book Nook in 2012 when I discovered a large community of readers online and wanted to join the conversation. I'm a Michigander who somehow landed the best job of my life teaching 4th grade special education in Illinois! I write in the early mornings before school and read at night! My favorite authors include Ann Patchett, Marilynne Robinson, Elizabeth Strout, and Donna Tartt. This is a place for me to share my passion for reading with others. If you're interested in having me review your book, please contact me at k4evans1@gmail.com